Seven people shamed in a year for racist views

Vanessa Hartley – who likened Africans to “stupid animals” converging on a coastal town – is not alone when it comes to racially offensive views that have provoked a public backlash.

Hartley‚ a sales manager at a security and IT company in Cape Town‚ has joined the ranks of politicians‚ professionals‚ a lodge owner‚ retired estate agent and high court judge whose words returned to haunt them.

Here are seven people who’ve been hauled over the coals for race-related incidents in the past year or so:

** DA parliamentary member Dianne Kohler Barnard. Her parliamentary membership was terminated at the end of October 2015 after she shared a Facebook post from journalist Paul Kirk‚ in which he praised former apartheid president PW Botha. The post read: “Please come back PW Botha – you were far more honest than any of these (African National Congress) rogues‚ and you provided a far better service to the public.”

Her expulsion was later lifted after an appeal process‚ on condition that she is not found guilty of any transgressions during a set period.

** Former real estate agent Penny Sparrow‚ who referred to black beachgoers as “monkeys” in a Facebook post about litter left behind after New Year celebrations.
She initially defended the post‚ stating: “I am sorry that it has taken such a viral turn‚ but it was just a statement of how it was. I wasn’t being nasty or rude or horrible‚ but it’s just that they (black people) make a mess. It is just how they are.”

Sparrow was fined R5‚000 by the Scottburgh Magistrate’s Court after pleading guilty to a charge of crimen injuria‚ and R150‚000 by the Equality Court.

** Former Sports Promotion Officer Velaphi Khumalo called for black South Africans to do to white people what “Hitler did to the Jews” and cleanse the country of white people.

He added‚ “I will from today unfriend all white people I have as friends from today u must be put under the same blanket as any other racist white because secretly u all are a bunch of racist f**k heads”.

Khumalo was given a final written warning in June after first being suspended with full pay from the Gauteng Sports‚ Arts‚ Culture and Recreation Department.

He later apologised to the Gauteng government and ANC for his racist remarks.

** Durban woman Vicki Momberg faced charges after she contacted the police emergency number 10111 and was recorded referring to a black police officer as a “f****** k*****”.

She allegedly also insulted two more police officers on the same day that she contacted 10111‚ calling a policewoman a “f****** b****” and a male officer “useless and stupid” as well as using the k-word.

** High court Judge Mabel Jansen generalised in a Facebook conversation that “all black men are rapists and murderers”.

Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha granted special leave to Jansen pending the finalisation of a complaint submitted to the Judicial Services Commission.

The complaint against her was lodged by the Gauteng chairman of Advocates for Transformation‚ Vuyani Ngalwana.

** Lodge owner Andre Slade was lambasted on social media by political parties and individuals after he sent an email to a patron saying his establishment‚ Sodwana Bay Guest Lodge in KwaZulu-Natal‚ did not accommodate black people or government employees.

The lodge owner used scriptures from the Bible to defend his decision‚ stating that the Bible advocated the segregation of black and white people.

** Cape Town DA councillor of Ward 54‚ Shayne Ramsay‚ said in a Facebook post last week that people living on the streets in the Sea Point community were either “criminals‚ mentally retarded or social outcasts and those who are genuinely down on their luck”.

The Western Cape ANC slammed the Facebook post as racist and dehumanising (to) poor‚ black people. ANC provincial spokesman Yonela Diko said the DA should suspend Ramsay with immediate effect.

Ramsay had scheduled a “March Against Grime” where people were encouraged to join in a walk along the promenade‚ “kindly asking anyone planning on sleeping overnight‚ to move along”. The march has since been called off.